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Permalink Reply by Julie P. on October 17, 2008 at 5:37am

The benefits of tubulars are that (1) you can run higher tire pressure, (2) you won't pinch flat at very low tire pressure, (3) the tires are totally round and thus corner more smoothly.

The downfalls are (1) they're expensive, (2) it's harder to deal with flats, particularly mid-ride.

I've been gluing tubies for years but always for race-specific applications- crits, track, cyclocross. I would never recommend them for on-road use or city streets. If you pick up a piece of glass, you're going to really regret it... to fix the tubular you'll have to pull the valve core from the tire, put sealant in, spin the wheel, wait a spell to make sure it worked, reinsert valve core, pump up. If you get a deep puncture you're just totally screwed. You could, of course, pre-glue an extra tire and carry it with you, and then peel off the flat and mount the new one, but that's really no fun.

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Permalink Reply by J on October 17, 2008 at 6:18am

Since the tubular market is so small, there aren't a great selection of the urban road variety, so like Julie said -- you will get flats. Remember too that clinchers and tubulars are often made in different factories for a given brand, and so for example while Continental Gatorskin clinchers are quite resilient, Gatorskin tubulars are impressively prone to glass shards. And on the other side, clinchers have made great technical improvements in recent years, and are very close in weight and road feel to racing tubulars.

But if you must run tubulars for training, there are perfectly decent <$40 tubulars available, and a cheap tubular still retains many of the handling and weight benefits of the more expensive ones. I personally don't think mounting a spare is that big of a deal, but then again, I came up on tubulars and not clinchers. Julie is also correct in describing the annoying Tufo method of repairing a flat on the road. But there are similar products from Hutchinson, Schwalbe, and Vittoria that work similarly well on 1-2mm punctures and don't require valve core removal. I have repaired a road puncture in this way in less than 2 minutes.

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Permalink Reply by Julie P. on October 17, 2008 at 6:46am

how did i know j would be pro-tubular?

i do have to say this: there is nothing classier than a rider with a pre-glued tubular tucked under her/his saddle.

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Permalink Reply by Adam on October 17, 2008 at 7:40am

Thanks for the insight... I'm having a hard time justifying 600-1000 on some nice tubular wheels that are "event" only wheels... I might look at some nice clinchers instead.

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Permalink Reply by Chi Tour de Cure on October 17, 2008 at 9:10am

I'll echo the sentiments of Julie and J. Unless you're important enough to have a follow car on your training rides, tubulars don't make much sense - especially in a rough-road, urban environment like Chicago.

I'm on my second pair of tubular racing wheels and I will continue to use tubies for events, but I am able to keep the costs down through my club. If I was paying MSRP, you can bet I'd be on clinchers. I'll just add some quick points...

- There have been moments in races where I was leaning so far over in a corner, that I actually had no choice but to believe that tubulars grab the ground better due to their shape. The road feel is sublime and give you a much wider range of PSI to choose from. Additionally, if you're going to shuck out major coin for a racing wheelset, you want major weight savings at the rim, where the rotational resistance resides... tubulars are lighter (although carbon clincher rims are starting to catch up fast!).
- Some cons aside from the situations already mentioned: If you flat in a stage race or on an event weekend, you could be without your hoops not only for the race you flatted in, but the next day as well (depending on your repair skill and advance planning). Tubulars need love and care - you need to pay attention to temperature in which you store them, remember to reduce the psi when you're done with them... and when you screw up, the results are spectacular.

All that aside, they're part of cycling tradition. There's something to be said about a cycling art that requires Euro team mechanics to age their tubular specimens in a wine cellar for several years!

Oh - if you want to demo some, call some shops like Mission Bay (I'm not sure they do, 'B' might know. There's a website called myracedaywheels.com that I've used - good people, easy to deal with.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on October 19, 2008 at 9:08am

hey adam ive got a really quite nice but old tubular wheelset ill give you pretty cheap they have tires glued on already. max inflation is 170 psi! theyre high flange dura ace hubs that run smooth laced to mavic tubular rims with a 5 speed dura ace casette threaded on there. theyre totally true as well. let me know if youre interested.

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